For weeks now, a damaging trickle of once-secret information about
the National Security Agency's spying abroad has outraged U.S. partners.
France is the latest to formally protest over its citizens' alleged
treatment at the hands of NSA analysts.

But new reports are also emerging about a decision by Saudi Arabian officials to distance themselves from Washington. The Wall Street Journal reported overnight
that Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief told European diplomats that the
country will pull back on its cooperation with the U.S. on arming and
training Syrian rebels.

… The Saudi pull-back reportedly is tied to disappointment over the
U.S. decision not to proceed with a strike on the Assad regime in Syria,
as well as a possible softening of the relationship between Washington
and Tehran.

Fox News Middle East analyst Walid Phares said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is not alone.
"Jordan is in the same view. Kuwait, Bahrain, the U.A.E.," he told
Fox News. "What we see forming is a bloc of former Arab allies or of
Arab allies who are not very happy."

… On the NSA front, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf noted
Monday that the Obama administration is formally reviewing its
intelligence-gathering activities, while also reassuring other countries
"that we take their concerns seriously."

She stressed that the intelligence is collected to protect allies' citizens as well.
"People understand the value of intelligence gathering around the
world, right? It's where the balance lies between privacy and security,
and those are the conversations we're having right now," she said.
France is one of America's oldest allies, and U.S. officials are keen
to ease the tension over U.S. spying. Flare-ups with other countries
have been quick and harsh.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff nixed a state visit to Washington
following reports that the U.S. was tapping into Brazilian
communications and networks.

Germany and Mexico have also voiced serious concern about U.S. surveillance. A new report in the German magazine Der Spiegel said a division of the NSA once gained access to former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's email account.

Plantu has a shocked NSA spy reporting to Obama and to Mickey Mouse (both have large, active ears, I guess) about the latest scandals in domestic French life, two of them involving French soccer clubs
Related: Days after Hollande sternly told the U.S. in July to stop spying on its allies,
Le Monde disclosed that France has its own large program of data collection, which sweeps up nearly all the data transmissions that come in and out of France